Calling all retailers: Get 50 percent off the two day main conference at Etail West 2010 courtesy of ShopVisible ecommerce solution.

Download the brochure and register online here.

Etail West provides you with high-level, tactical presentations and panel discussions and creates a platform for you to swap ideas and network. Attend intimate and interactive sessions, built upon the relationship-building between retailers that you can’t receive at huge tradeshows.

At the show, stop by the ShopVisible booth where we will be holding a special clinic entitled:

Visibility = Sales

Visibility in search, channels and comparison-shopping engines

Visibility into your business – orders, shipping, inventory and more!

Visibility everywhere

If you sign up to attend Etail, feel free to contact us at info@shopvisible.com or 866-493-7037 to set up a time for a one-on-one website consultation session with our ecommerce experts at the show.  We will prepare an exclusive document for you in advance of the event to take with you free of charge that includes tips on how you can improve your visibility and website performance.

Etail West 2010

February 22-25 (Main conference: February 23-24)

JW Marriott Desert Springs

Palm Desert, CA

1. connecting with customers
2. going mobile
3. becoming expert sources for online retail
4. making navigation more useful
5. personalizing the online experience for shoppers
6. making tough purchases easy
7. selling themselves
8. creating a sense of online urgency
9. connecting the site and the store
10. playing the value card

As the ShopVisible Ecommerce Security team has been undergoing its PCI level one assessment we have become quite familiar with the late David Taylor via his prodigiously informative PCI Knowledge Base. The Payment Card Industry and the online security community in general lost a true scholar recently with the unexpected passing of fifty seven year old David Taylor, formerly of Protegrity and Gartner.

Those familiar with online Ecommerce security and PCI compliance have likely read posts from Taylor and heard him warmly and simplistically address the often misunderstood and esoteric realm of online security in his webinars. For online security laymen, Taylor provided a perspective that was grounded in data security standards and payment protection. Companies without large IT infrastructures and the human resources to undertake such projects as PCI compliance looked to Taylor for instruction on proceeding with security compliance and for definition of technical elements like File Integrity Monitoring, Application Firewalls and Penetration Tests.

David Taylor was indeed an expert in a field incomprehensible to many. In of his most recent posts from the PCI Knowledge Base, Taylor delved deep into Ecommerce security and organizational management as he addressed how PCI compliance can coalesce with risk management policy to better protect Ecommerce firms. His erudite approach to safeguarding online business was transparent and honest and will be well received for years in the fields of security compliance and online fraud prevention.

PCI standards evolve but they do so often at a more languid pace than does the technology itself. Toss in economic considerations and you've got a real Ecommerce conundrum...

Recent literature published in the PCI Knowledge-base examines security and compliance migrations, cost reductions, and virtualization in recessionary times. Ecommerce solution provider ShopVisible offers up insights into its own PCI assessment process while trying to stay on top of recent Ecommerce security news in order to provide its clients and readers a glimpse into the rapidly blossoming arena of Ecommerce payment protection.

For many online merchants, or at least those wrestling with PCI and security measures to protect the CDE or cardholder data environment, the strident 12 requirements of PCI coupled with serious security budgets and IT infrastructure has created headaches and handicapped wallets...especially now. For many, as evidenced in the PCI Knowledge-base's expert’s blog, the arduous compliance process has become tarnished by a "checklist mentality and ineffective implementation and enforcement." It can be argued as a best practice in Ecommerce, or at least in an effort to pass compliance levels, that reducing risk and documenting to assessors that effective controls are in place exudes risk management policy, and thereby can help cut costs during the implementation.

PCI security experts have been discussing sophisticated elements of online commerce and their relation to development of both policy and technology. For instance, with regards to network segmentation and scope, the PCI Knowledge-base notes that “network segmentation is still not a requirement, for some reason, but it’s the single action that will save you the most money in the assessment.” In the PCI 1.2 version, segmentation is discussed and noted as being adequate along with the appropriate network diagrams if in place. One solution available to many merchants with the right budget is a variation of a network monitoring tool. These can “tell you, continuously, of attempts to access specific network resources.” They can in doing so show the assessor the positive impact of your network segmentation policy and thereby quantify risk and help cut back on PCI compliance costs.

Store sampling is another facet of the compliance process and in PCI 1.2, “the goal of the sampling process is to understand the risks posed by stores, since many security breaches originate there…” one here must show the assessor that store policy is commensurate with Ecommerce provider policy and high levels of consistency are maintained constantly again helping to reduce risk and cut costs. Again, automated tools can benefit providers here in an attempt to cut time and costs resources associated with manual configuration management. The PCI Knowledge-base notes that “the ability to place server configuration under change control is valuable for both PCI requirement 2, as well as requirement 10.” Automated tools will often justify a smaller sample size thus again reducing assessment fees.

The latest post from the PCI Knowledge-base also delves into discussion of compensating controls in the Ecommerce eco-system and states that “while compensating controls are too often used as a PCI cost cutting technique by merchants, they are really the heart and soul of risk management relative to PCI…a weak process for documenting and quantifying risk usually shows up in poorly defined compensating controls, which can cause compliance failure and additional assessment and technology costs.”

Basically, PCI compliance is an arduous process for any company regardless of organizational complexity, IT infrastructure and budget size. Above are just a few methods to try and cut back costs. When selecting an Ecommerce provider, it helps to do your due diligence and “in PCI 1.2, there is specific mention of the need to prove due diligence as to risk ‘prior to engaging’ service provider, and need to prove ongoing ‘monitoring’ of compliance status.” Keep monitoring policies up to date and maintain a vigilant stance with regards to data centers. Just because you’re PCI compliant does not mean that a hardened data center will mandate policy to keep you compliant. Prove to your data center, your assessor and to your clients that you care about risk. Show them PCI is an ongoing process and one dedicated to secure online transactions. The more safely your merchants sell, the more they will appreciate all your hard work!

ShopVisible is an Ecommerce solution provider intent on security, integration and SEO.

• resetting their goals: they are thinking ahead and altering standard business practices not to just emerge from the recession but in fact excel out of it...
• alternatively assessing their competitors: looking at best practices and not just ROI driving methodologies; utilizing in some cases radical transparency as a means at the disclosure of innovation
  
• developing their IT departments: folks are creating client enhancements and thinking ahead of the curve; they are testing in staging environments in an effort to provide solid QA in their production arenas
• sticking together: they have realized that remaining close with brand loyal patrons and building upon existing relationships with their manufacturers is critical; add value to the selling arena and promote competitive pricing models 
• blogging, tweeting, faceBooking and more: Mulpuru cannot address enough the significance of social media marketing as a form of enhanced and deliverable customer generated content; the 2 way street enables brands to promote and spread word of mouth while conversely, customers and loyal brand enthusiasts can share their positive feelings about the company
  
• getting mobile: Mulpuru lauds the iPhone as a revolutionary device. She encourages Ecommerce merchants to develop mobile sites and focus on few click-thrus for checkout to enable seamless mobile purchasing and updating; Mulpuru notes that "email is web retailers best friend, but it's not the future..."